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Johnson (1948) described the Barren Member as the upper part of the <br />• Mesa Verde, overlying the thick sandstone at the top of the Paonia Member <br />and underlying the Ohio Creek Paleocene sediments. As the name implies, <br />there are no mineral coals in this sequence; the Barren Member probably <br />represents a distal fluvial environment with little or no Paludal development. <br />Average weighted quality of the E Seam coal is given as 13,923 BTU, .63 <br />percent sulfur, 2.41 percent moisture, 2.18 percent ash, 56.05 percent fixed <br />carbon and 39.36 percent volatile matter. Average weighted quality of the <br />Wild Seam is given as 9,707 BTU, 1.58 percent sulfur, 3.35 percent moisture, <br />28.38 percent ash, 40.90 percent fixed carbon and 27.38 percent volatile <br />matter. Averaged weighted quality of the D Seam is given as 12,227 BTU, <br />.84 percent sulfur, 3.28 percent moisture, 12.96 percent ash, 48.0 fixed <br />carbon and 36.4 percent volatile material. For detailed analysis of two coal <br />• samples from the E Seam see Appendix B. <br />Total in-place reserves for the federal leases in the Hawk's Nest Mining <br />and Reclamation Plan were estimated at 9.0 million tons for the E Seam, 10.3 <br />million tons for the Wild Seam, and 11.1 million tons for the D Seam. <br />Details of coal reserves in other seams not included in the Hawk's Nest <br />Mining and Reclamation Plan are not given. <br />2. Project Impacts on Geology <br />Back filling of mine tunnels would have little impact on local or <br />regional geology. Back filling may in fact mitigate for impacts of coal <br />mining itself. One of the main impacts of coal mining on local geology is <br />subsidence of overlying strata (8 LM 1979). By back filling mine tunnels <br />with mine wastes subsidence may be lessed to some unknown degree. <br />29 <br />